The five second rule debunked and medical decision-making

If you live by the five second rule, here's a study you need to read. A lot of common notions have been disproved as we learn more about the science of health. I don't think that most of us believe the stork myth of babies anymore, or frogs causing warts. Unfortunately some of these laughable beliefs have been replaced by pseudoscientific myths such as immunizations causing autism, and the health benefit nonsense promoted by the supplement industry.

Putting the Five Second Rule to the Test

So I had to chuckle when I read about this recent medical study. Everyone has heard of "the five second rule" that food dropped on the floor for less than five seconds is safe to eat. Presumably because bacteria need time to transfer. Well, now the American Society for Microbiology has published a report proving the five second rule wrong. A food microbiologist at Rutgers performed a 2 year study, proving that no matter how fast you pick up food that falls on the floor, you will pick up bacteria with it. Having a dose of bacteria with our food is significant, since research by the Centers for Disease Control found that surface cross-contamination was a common contributing factor in outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.

Why do people do this? The article discusses how we all make decisions based on our perceptions of risk and benefit, but many times we rely on flawed assumptions or misinformation (see the chart in this post). This is why medical studies are important to all of us, even with seemingly trivial topics like the "five second rule". I often have discussions with patients who have come to believe that a certain treatment or medicine is unwise based on information from unreliable sources (a typical example is people wary of using statin drugs to lower cholesterol). All of us should look for information from reliable sources (I have listed some in the Recommended Health Information listing in the right column) and not be influenced by opinion or advertising.

In any case, read the article. Comments by the researcher, Professor Schaffner are funny, and dead on, such as:

The first kid, the pacifier falls on the floor, oh my God, we have to sterilize it. By the third kid, it’s like ‘whatever'.